Tugging on My Heartstrings - Sasori of the Sand
by sunasrose
Summary: Seventeen year old kunoichi, Hikari, finds herself intent on unveiling more about the mysterious Sasori after her first encounter with him nearly gets her killed. This story is an adaptation to IcyRapsody's version from Quizilla. It has a lot of original and extremely well-developed characters. This story takes place way before Naruto's Uzumaki's generation.
1. Chapter 1

We have been practicing our new Taijutsu technique, Ren and I, since before dawn. We were in a rather remote area of the training grounds, on the outskirts of the village, Sunagakure. But we didn't mind; the silence helped us concentrate on our training. It was noon now, and the intensity of the desert sun forced us to take a break. Unfortunately, neither of us have perfected our technique just yet. It required a lot of upper body strength in order to master its destructive potential.

"Want to keep practicing?"

"Nah, I'm completely drained. This technique really takes a lot outta me, but I can't wait to use it on Suza!" she snickers evilly. She's probably planning her revenge on Suza after he and Shogo stole our bras and hung them up in front of the Kazekage's headquarters, leaving them to wave in the wind like flags.

"Hey where is he anyways?" Suzaku usually met up with us for training.

"Eh? I guess he just didn't feel like coming today. You know how lazy he can be. He's probably off trying to seduce some chunin." We both roll our eyes at the thought of him going at it again. We've all known each other since we were what? Five-ish? He started out as a nerd, but as soon as he became a chunin he became Mr. Popular. His ego only grew after reaching jounin.

"Whatever." We both sit in the sand and lean up against a big boulder that provides a generous amount of shade. I brush out my hair with my fingers and begin to form a long braid. After not having much patience with my mop of hair, I simply decide to squash it into a ball and tie it into a bun. Ren plays with a kunai out of boredom and exhaustion.

After a few moments of silence, a massive growl roared from Ren's stomach. We both laugh as she stands up.

"Want to go get some ramen with me?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." Aunt Tsukiko made sure I ate a huge breakfast before I came to train. I also brought some dried fruit with me as a snack.

"On some kind of diet or something to look pretty for the boys, Hikari?" She pried playfully while fluttering her eyelashes.

"Oh yes, I have a hot date tonight. You know me!" I say with sarcasm.

"I'm sure your Aunt has a real date prepared for you to blow off again." She laughs.

"I do what I must." I say nonchalantly. It's not that I didn't like guys, my Aunt just had a tendency to throw any guy she happens to find at me. When it came to actual cute guys from a distance, I never really summed up the courage to do anything about it. I reminisced last month when Aunt Tsukiko introduced me to a guy who thought that woman should not be ninja. The whole ten minutes that we spent together were of him trying to convince me that being a ninja is not "feminine." That resulted in my unfeminine fist in his face and a very embarrassed Aunt. Turned out he was the son of one of my Aunt Tsukiko's superiors in the Anbu.

"Well if Suza wasn't guarding you like a bone, other guys might actually approach you." She says bluntly.

"He is not."

"If you say so!" She giggles and starts walking away.

"You leaving?" I ask.

"Yeah I'll go now. You shouldn't stay out too long either. Especially alone. Anyways, I'll catch you later!" She waves.

I listen as the crunching sound of sand from her footsteps fade.

I stand up and squint out into the distance, further into the sand abyss. A minor dust storm heads my way. I feel a hot, soft breeze as sand particles dance before me and find their place nested in my hair and on my clothes. I dust them off but it's no use. Living in the desert has it's ups and down. Maybe I should just head home? I sigh.

Just as I manoeuvre my way toward the village, I hear a piercing scream that sends chills down my spine and tickles the hairs on my neck. I freeze for a second before darting into the direction of the scream. It didn't sound like the grunts and moans of your usual training session.

"What the he—.."

THUNK!

Some idiot slams into me, knocking me onto the ground. I push him off of me and roll over and cough. I quickly recognise the idiot as Suzaku.

"Suzaku what the fuck are you doing?!" I snap, looking over to him. He didn't respond so I poked him. He was out cold. My eyes scanned the rest of his body; a small knife protruded from his stomach. It was bathed in a purple liquid. Poison.

I cough, chocking on particles of dirt. Struggling to stand up, I get a better look at Suzaku. His face is strikingly pale. He moans before I have time to be concerned with whether or not he is alive. His eyes flutter and he mutters something indiscernible. Well, thankfully he's not dead. Yet.

In that moment, a bizarre and barely discernible creature decorated with shiny knives, came hurling in our direction. I gripped my spear and glanced at Suza. He was going to owe me for saving his ass.

Suddenly the creature came to a halt and I realised it was not a creature but a wooden doll! It had three piercing eyes and wild black hair. It was draped in filthy, torn-up rags. I could hear clicking noises and its head moved in a mechanically freakish way. My heart was racing in anticipation for its next move.

I adjust the position of my feet, twisting and sliding my boots to spread into a proper fighting stance. I wipe the dirt from my cheek with the back of my hand. "Ready when you are Raggedy-Anne."

It's jaw snaps open and hurled a spike in my direction. There is a satisfying SHING of metal clanging against metal as I block the attack with my spear. More weapons spiral toward me before I can anticipate them; I manage to barely block them all. So far none of them were covered in poison.

I'm being toyed with.

I continue to block every attack while I think of a way to actually take that thing down. If I keep this up, I'll have no energy and I'll be completely vulnerable. Hell, I'm already pretty drained from training all morning. Ren was right, it wasn't a good idea for me to stay out here. But thank god for Suza that I did.

I feel as if I was doing some kind of sadistic dance with the puppet that would last until the next moon. I soon take notice to a glimmer, thanks to the sun, emanating from the chalkra strings attached to the puppet. Of course! I can cut the strings! It's just a puppet!

I proceed with my plan considering that I haven't come up with any other brilliant ideas in this tense moment. I try to inch closer to the puppet as it continues to launch its unlimited supply of weaponry. It's jaw snaps open about every twenty seconds. The rest of the weapons were launched from the opening of it's belly area. I toss my spear just as its mouth snaps open, allowing it to "choke" on my spear, hoping that it will buy me some time. It pauses, as if not expecting me to do something so reckless, giving me about a second to put my plan into action.

I leap towards it and attempt to dodge the rest of the knives, however, a few of the pierce the surface of my shoulders. I clench my teeth and ignore the pain. Just as I reach the doll and nearly claim my victory in slicing through the damned chalkra strings, a new pair of arms explode from under its rags and hook onto my left leg, attempting to knock me down. It's going to take more than that! But, my legs were tingling and I was losing feeling of them. I realised I had been sliced with poisoned blades when I tried to approach the puppet. Without giving up, I focused a great deal of chalkra into fingers, forming a pair of scissors, I sliced through one of the strings connected to the leg joints. The puppet stumbled, losing its balance. I sliced through another string quickly as I noticed a new chalkra string was attempting to form in order to replace the one I severed. I was quick enough that the puppet teetered left and right before falling. It maintains a tight grip on my weak leg and I collapse into a tangled mess with the puppet.

"Ughh… my head…" I moan, laying in a pile with the now motionless puppet. I shove the hunk of wood off of me.

"I did it! So much for that piece of junk!" I say proudly. I look up at the sky and thank the gods that I survived that demonic doll. My gratitude was quickly severed by a rope of chalkra that wrapped around my chest, suppressing my ability to move.

"I wouldn't say so." A cool voice comments from behind me.

"Whaaa?!—" I spin around to look up to a young man with reddish hair, looking at me with a cocked eyebrow. He stands calmly, hands in his pockets, as his gaze meets mine.


	2. Chapter 2

"Master of Puppets? Not much of a title if you ask me."

"You're very arrogant while tied up in the dirt." He raised an eyebrow, reminding me of my situation.

I pout.

I took notice of the glimmer from his headband, tied loosely around his upper right bicep; etched into it was the symbol for Sunagakure. Instantly my frustration vanished and was replaced with anger, driven by dazzling confusion. What is a sand ninja doing violently attacking other ninja from his own village?

"Are you on drugs? Or are you just stupid?" I glared at him after blatantly eyeing his headband.

Thinly, very thinly, he smirked. As if he was mocking me, his shoulders shook slightly; suppressing a soft laughter. He stood atop a small, red sand dune. The sun was at his back, silhouetting his figure and making it difficult to decipher his face clearly.

"It isn't like you're an asset to the village, anyhow. I've done more for this village than you'll do in a lifetime." His foot pivoted, crunching the sand as he turned away.

"That doesn't mean you should go around attacking your fellow shinobi!" I spat venomously.

"They just let anyone become a chunin nowadays don't they?" He taunts, looking over his shoulder.

Now I'm angry. My face burns not only from the sun but from the blood staining my cheeks into a ferocious red. I sit with my mouth puckered, my mind scrolls through all the feisty things I can say to lash back at him. But instead I say nothing. He leaves me there as he casually walks over to his puppet to gather the pieces. He effortlessly kept me tied up from the chakra streams spawned from his right hand as he gathered his puppet with a new set of chakra strings from his left hand. I struggle a bit trying to move out of his chakra strings, but my efforts are in vain. He slumps the puppet onto his back, its arms hook around his neck like a child.

"I'm not impressed with your techniques, Master Puppeteer." I emphasise on the last part.

With his left hand free, he merely flicks his wrists and shoots a horde of needles in my direction. I squeeze my eyes shut, attempting to roll over but it's no use. I clench my teeth I take the hit. Immediately I feel the poison seep its way into my bloodstream. Before I open my eyes, I feel a rough hand grip the back of my neck. He yanks me close to him that I can feel his warm breath tickle my ear in a threatening manner. If I wasn't so sweaty, I might feel the hairs on my skin react to the fear. I'm looking over his shoulder, I faintly notice that the puppet isn't draped over his back anymore. My eyes widen, I'm looking at the sky, hoping to the gods that I'll see the sky again tomorrow.

"What use is it to use my greatest attacks on a pathetic chunin like yourself?" He taunted.

Defeat. Utter defeat. I do look completely pathetic right now. But so what if he's got the best of me this time? Fuck him. I'll take my revenge upon him, for what he did to me, and for what he did to Suzak-.

"Suzaku!" The pain and fear suddenly evaporates as I look over to my pale friend, just a few yards away.

"You won't get away with this, Sasori!" I struggled more, I was breathing heavily now and I felt a surge of adrenaline.

Sasori releases me from his grip and from his rope of chalra. I fall over in the dirt, desperately struggling to stand up and reach Suza. My legs are still pretty numb. Sasori walks away again, his back toward me which offends me deeply, but I have no time for that. Suzaku needs to get to the hospital and fast. But things start to become hazy; I can't distinguish if it's the heat waves or if I'm losing coherence. I start to feel very hot and my stomach feels like it has turned itself upside down. I wipe the beads of sweat from my forehead and rip out a few needles that are still pricked into me and toss them aside. I try to crawl, well, drag my legs and maneuver my way over to Suza with my elbows, but my drowsiness gets the best of me. I look around, hoping someone will hear my cry for help. Sasori is already gone. Everything seems to be a hot hazy blur before I find my face in the dirt and my eyes shut.


	3. Chapter 3

The scent of flowers tickles my nose. Who found fresh flowers in Sunagakure? I open my eyes to a soft sunlight illuminating the room from the window. Curtains sway in the breeze. This is about all I notice in my hazy, drowsy state before I hear Ren whisper good morning to me. My eyes shift to to blurry figures at the end of my bed. My vision comes into focus and I see Ren and Suzaku staring at me tensely.

"Good morning…" I whisper back, struggling to use my coarse voice.

"Oh thank goodness you're awake! We were so worried!" Ren rushes to give me a bear hug.

"H-how long was I out for?" I swallow. My voice is louder now.

"About a week. The doctors weren't familiar with the poison in yours and Suza's bloodstream, so they had to come up with an antidote on the spot. But… you had an allergic reaction to that so they had to find something to calm your immune system AND release the poison." Ren informs me.

I ignore her and look over at Suza, awkwardly holding a bouquet of sunset tulips.

"Where did he go?!" I hiss. His gaze shifts to the floor for a split second and he brushes the back of his neck with his palm.

"I don't know… I barely remember what happened. One second I'm on my way to train with you guys, then some guy attacks me outta the blue. I didn't even have time to fight him back before I was knocked out cold. Next thing I knew I was in the hospital."

I narrow my eyes at him. He's not saying something. Why would he be coming from the south of the training grounds to train with us and not from the village entrance…? He keeps his palm on his neck and walks over to my bedside table, placing the tulips gently down.

"Anyways, you're safe now. Once you recover completely you and Ren can embarrass yourselves by attempting that lame-o taijutsu technique on me." He smirks and and lifts his chin up arrogantly, changing the subject.

Ren and I roll our eyes and I tear the covers off of me and try to stand. The room wobbles a bit as I scan for my clothes. My eyes wander to the flowers on the table and a slight movement shifting within them. I lean closer to see a scorpion, yellow and still, nearly blending in with the tulips. I gasp.

"What- what is it?!" Ren runs over to my side and Suza follows, both leaning closely and examining the insect.

"It's a death stalker," Suza says matter-of-factly.

I felt its eyes on me as it stood their nearly lifeless.

Ren snatches the bouquet and runs to the window, hurling them out as if she's been wanting to do that for some time. The corners of her mouth are slightly lifted and there's a gleam in her eyes. Suza looks pretty pissed but I can't help but giggle a bit. She walks back towards us, slapping her hands together.

"All better! Now how about we get out of this shit hole?" She says with a punch.

After we leave the "shit hole" we wander around the village. The warmth of the sunlight soothes my skin after being trapped inside for so long. Ren just complains about the heat and insists that me and Suza head over to her place. Usually everyone hangs out at Ren's; it's just more fun there.

"Actually, I'm going to head home and check in with my Aunt." I say. Aunt Tsukiko might freak out if she finds out I checked out of the hospital and disappeared.

Suza, having the short attention span that he does, ignores Ren and me as he hollers to a group of girls he knows from god knows where and rushes over to them.

Ren ignores him and says her goodbyes to me before heading towards her house in the northwest district of the village. Suza still isn't paying attention so I just leave, making my way through the centre marketplace, heading southeast. The market is always busy at this hour, as it usually is between noon and the afternoon.

As I wander the crowd, I space out think of Sasori. That asshat…he's got to live somewhere around here. But god, the village is so huge, the chances of me finding him again are slim. Something slams into me and jolts me back to reality. I look down to see a small kid who is already kneeling on the ground apologising. I lean over and assure him that everything is fine and that I won't use him for target practice. Well, apparently that'a not the right thing to say to a kid because he just looks up at me terrified before darting off into the abyss of the crowd. I just hope he won't get his mother to harass me. Just then, I notice a tall, red headed figure shifting through the crowd.

"Sasori." I mutter, gritting my teeth before racing in his direction. I dance through the mass of Suna shoppers. I'm so determined to reach him that I push anyone out of my way. Most of the time that ended up with me getting knocked around. I try to stay on my toes so I can keep my eye on him, but my height is not in my favor right now. I leap into an alley and climb a tower of crates full of sake bottles. The tower shakes and wobbles threateningly before I launch myself to the top of the roof. I fly across one building to another, keeping close enough to the edge so I can keep track of Sasori's sandy head swiftly pacing through the crowd, as if he's distracted.

I pant, having crossed at least ten buildings by now. The distance between us closes gradually and I prepare my sai blades to launch down to him. "Hahaha, I've got you now you bastard," I snicker. I bend my knees and leap about one foot into the air before the wind suddenly shifts and I slam onto the ground towards the other end of the roof, my sai blades slipping from my grasp.

"Excuse me, I was just on my way out of the village if you don't mind," a melodious an feminine voice taunts. I reach for my blades and return to my feet to see the stranger before me; her face is covered with a thin veil, the kind of fabric that only the village hidden in the cloud wears. A cloud ninja had no business here. I rush toward her with my sai blades in position. She reaches for a crescent shaped katana and meets my attack, clanging her sword against mine with equal force. She's surprisingly strong and my feet slide against the concrete.

"If you'll be a good little girl and let me pass, it'd be a shame to get blood on my clothes," she wines annoyingly.

I'm feeling nervous now and too focused on trying to keep my swords locked with hers to entertain her with small-talk. I'm actually not sure if I can beat this bitch. I'm still not fully recovered from the poison incident. I only impulsively ran after Sasori because I wasn't sure if I'd get another chance.

I decide to make the next move and perform a substitution jutsu and teleport right behind her. She spins around and slices the air with her katana several times, forcing me to back up towards the edge near the market.

I look nervously over the ledge and quickly back at her, preparing my sai blades once again. She's got the advantage on me right now.

"Why are you here!?" I ask with hostility.

"For me to know and you to guess!" She rushes toward me, pointing her katana at my heart. I prepare to block her before she suddenly releasing the katana and drops down, sliding her leg across the pavement with a powerful force, knocking the feet out from under me. I lose my balance but can manage to stay on the roof until I feel a slight shove to my collar bone, sending me soaring over the building ledge. The wind is rushing past my ears as I'm falling from at least five stories. Suddenly, everything is still and I'm floating in mid air. Shocked, I watch Sasori clench his fist tightly and yank up on the chakra strings that had kept me from a very messy death. He lifted me back onto the roof and I felt the heavenly strings disappear. "Stay out of the way!" Sasori yells as he turns to run after the Cloud Nin. His clothes billowed as he raced after the Cloud spy with incredible speed.

"The hell I will!" I shout, snatching up my sai blades and trailing after the two figures as they dash away toward the south cliff entrance.


End file.
